Gallup to Albuquerque: The Pueblo Corridor

The stretch of Interstate Forty between Gallup and Albuquerque passes through land that has been continuously inhabited by Pueblo peoples for over a thousand years. The Pueblo Revolt of sixteen eighty is the event that this corridor most directly marks. On August tenth of that year, Pueblo leaders coordinating across dozens of villages launched a coordinated uprising against Spanish colonial rule that drove the Spanish out of New Mexico completely, one of the most successful Indigenous uprisings against colonial rule in North America.

The revolt was organized by a Tewa leader named Popé, working from Taos Pueblo. The coordination required communicating across language barriers between villages as far apart as Hopi in Arizona and the Rio Grande pueblos. The Spanish returned in sixteen ninety-two and reclaimed the territory, but the Pueblo Revolt permanently altered the terms of their rule.

After sixteen ninety-two, Spanish colonial governance in New Mexico became significantly more tolerant of Pueblo religious practices. The pueblos retained their governance structures. They retained their land.

They are still there. Laguna Pueblo sits directly on Interstate Forty, about forty-five miles west of Albuquerque. The route sixty-six alignment ran through the pueblo.

Acoma Pueblo, Sky City, sits on a mesa top south of the highway, at roughly three hundred sixty-five feet above the surrounding plain. It has been continuously occupied for over a thousand years, making it one of the oldest continuously inhabited settlements in North America. Gallup calls itself the Indian Capital of the World, which is a description more than a boast.

A flea market there draws traders from across the Southwest.